Douglas High can’t keep pace with Rigby in opener

POCATELLO, Idaho — Douglas High’s offense looked solid in its season-opening game.

Unfortunately, the defense couldn’t keep up.

Rigby piled up more than 550 yards of total offense Saturday en route to a 56-32 win over the Tigers at the annual Rocky Mountain Rumble at Idaho State University’s Holt Arena.

“We put ourselves in a couple of hard spots,” said DHS coach Ernie Monfiletto. “The game should have been a lot closer.

“It just steamrolled on us; got away from us. A young team has to realize it can’t put itself in those kinds of spots. I’m excited about what this team can be. We’re just not there yet.”

Monfiletto was referring to the third quarter when things went awry on both sides of the ball, and his team was outscored, 16-0.

The Tigers took the opening kick-off of the second half, and drove to the Rigby 46. Facing a fourth-and-5, The Tigers went for the first down and failed.

The Trojans needed just eight plays to score on the ensuing possession, as Rigby quarterback Tanner Clayton scrambled for a 7-yard touchdown. The ensuing PAT by Brendon Lowder made it 35-20 with 5:41 left.

Two plays after the TD, the center snap sailed over quarterback Hunter Hickey’s head. He scrambled to get possession of the ball, and then heaved a long pass down the left sideline, and was called for intentional grounding. He threw the ball from about the 6, and the penalty put it back on the 3.

On the next play Hickey was sacked in the end zone to make it 37-20.

Believe it or not, things got worse.

Douglas kicked off after the safety, and the Tigers were hit with a facemask penalty on the return. Despite two offensive penalties, Rigby went on to drive in for another score, as Clayton threw a 7-yard pass to Ben Fullmer to make it 44-20 with 2:47 left in the third.

Hickey heaped some blame on himself for the loss, but he really made just two mistakes on the day – throwing an interception and the intentional grounding. The decision-making wasn’t great on either of those plays, but he accounted for around 250 yards of offense.

“I’m in charge of the offense,” he said after the game. “It was on me.”

“He was trying to make things happen a couple of times,” Monfiletto said.

Braden Youngstrum, who gained 241 yards, made it 50-20 with a 57-yard scoring run with 11 minutes left. Backup QB Keegan Thompson made it 56-20 with a 12-yard TD pass with 4:48 left.

The Tigers scored twice in their final three drives — a 3-yard run by Nathan Cruz and a 24-yard pass from Chris Flores to Devon Ryan.

It was a competitive first half.

Hickey hooked up twice for TDs with Ryan, measuring 60 and 48 yards.

The 48-yarder came right after Rigby had taken the opening kickoff and scored. Hickey and Ryan hooked up on the second snap of the possession to cut the lead to 7-6.

“The second one (60-yarder) was on a seam route,” Hickey said. “Devon is a heck of a player, and he did a good job on both of those balls.”

The second hook-up made it 20-14 with 6:53 left in the half.

Rigby scored on its next two possessions to take a 28-20 lead with 4:14 left. The Trojans had one other shot to score, but the Tigers took the ball on downs, as Elijah Freitas had a key sack and Cruz had a deflection.